


Inner Demons

by BrutalHearts666



Category: Brütal Legend
Genre: Adventure, Blood and Gore, Boats and Ships, Body Horror, Canon-Typical Violence, Demonic Possession, Demons, F/M, Nightmares, Original Character(s), Pirates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-05
Updated: 2019-06-05
Packaged: 2020-04-08 03:32:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19098907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrutalHearts666/pseuds/BrutalHearts666
Summary: Eddie starts having odd nightmares as the Tainted Coil mysteriously arises from the ashes. At the same time, he begins to experience terrifying changes within himself as time progresses. Meanwhile Ironheade tries to find out who's puppeteering the Tainted Coil now.





	1. Nightmares To Be

_Eddie's heart raced at an immeasurable pace as the scene played before him again. Doviculus touched down on the ground and searched around the area. Kneeling down in the glimmering fountain, Eddie's shoes and pants quickly became soaked. As well as those of his friends, Ophelia, Mangus, Lita, Lars._

_"Lars..." Eddie thought._

_"Succoria?" Doviculus' voice broke the silence, yet made the tension in the air thicker. "Why? You disrupt my industry, but I understand." Doviculus wondered around the area. "You make me look bad so you can strip me of my power- a very commendable sabotage. You destroy my servant's colony, but I do not blame you." He turned toward the fountain._

_"Duck!" Eddie thought and hid down in the fountain. The group, in toe, do the same._

_"It was an abomination which we permitted only to keep the human warlord obedient." Doviculus continued and turned back away. The group peered up over the ledge again. "But what I cannot comprehend is why do you live amongst these humans? Your mission was to spy on them. Not to join them."_

_In the corner of Eddie's eye, he noticed Lita look across him to stare down Ophelia. He knew what was going on, he knew what would happen next, yet he felt paralyzed. His body moved yet not to his own will. Doviculus pulled out one of Ophelia's daggers._

_"I know it was you at the temple of Ormagoden. I could smell your blood then, just I can smell it now." Doviculus threw it to the ground._

_Eddie gave a suspicious look to Ophelia, despite knowing that Doviculus wasn't talking about her. He was talking about him._

_"Let us wage war, Succoria. A terrible and beautiful war. But don't live amongst these dogs for one more day," Doviculus resumed, pacing the floor._

_Lars sat up a little, catching everyone else's attention in the fountain. Eddie's heart beats faster, fearing what comes next._

_"Or we may never get their stench off of you!" Doviculus exclaimed._

_With a skip in his heart beat, Eddie could feel himself regain control of himself again. He jumped up before Lars could. "Doviculus!" Eddie bellowed. The rest turned and stared up at Eddie in confusion at his sudden outburst. Lars seemed to settle back down in the fountain. Meanwhile, Doviculus snapped his attention toward Eddie._

_"Who dare-" Doviculus stopped himself as a wicked smile curled across his leathered lips. He could smell exactly who it was._

_Anger quickly overcame Eddie. Whatever he had planned to do was promptly thrown out the window. He jumped out of the fountain, axe drawn, and charged at Doviculus. The roadie quickly closes his eyes as to not get blood in them as his axe flew through the air. A gruesome crack echoing out as his blade cut through flesh. Only then he heard his allies gasp in shock, and his eyes slowly opened to see the beheaded body of Lars before him._

_"Lars!" Lita screamed._

_Eddie looked around rapidly, trying understand what just happened. He caught sight of his own hand, red as he was in his demon form. His black fingernails came to a sharp point like they were claws. Upon further inspecting himself, he found his pants were ripped and his legs replaced with animal type appendages ending in hooves. Eddie dropped his axe and began to panic. His mind racing, yet all real thought at a halt._

_"You bastard!" Lita's voice cut through the silence._

_Eddie looked back up. Lita stood several feet in front of him, her face a mixture anger and anguish as tears raced down her cheeks. Ophelia and Mangus, standing back by the fountain still; horrified and in disbelief. Eddie could only back away from Lita as she slowly stepped closer._

_"I-" he tried to explain, but didn't know what to say._

_A faint voice came from behind Eddie. "Good job, son of Succoria."_

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Eddie awoke in a cold sweat, heart pounding hard and fast. He sat up and clutched at his bare chest, breathing deeply to calm himself down. Barely awake, he did a quick scan of the room. In the darkness of the hut he could just barely make out the clothes rack to the right of his bed and the small fire pit in the middle of the room. He looked to his side and found Ophelia, still sleeping soundly despite Eddies' panic. She was most likely used to it by now. Between her boyfriends' loud snoring and constant tossing and turning, Ophelia had most likely learned how to be a deep sleeper. 

Eddie slowly settled back down into bed and laid on his side. He watched Ophelia sleep for a bit, listening to the world around them. The harsh wind ruffled the cloth ceiling. Listening to it leak through the cracks in the walls, making a high pitched whistle. Somewhere, not too far away, a raptor elk howled. The rest of the noises consisted purely of the sound of other near by Ironheade members snoring in their huts. Eddie wondered what time it was. There was no light peaking through the cracks in the walls, so it wasn't quite morning yet. He thought he should probably try sleeping again, but really didn't want to. After a few moments of thought, Eddie decided it was be best to just go and drive around. Patrol for a few hours until he either felt sleepy or the sun came up. Which ever came first. 

Eddie snuck out of bed, threw his clothes on, and headed out to the back entrance of Bladehenge where the Duce was parked. He jumped over the car door and reved up the engine. Just then, Eddie felt a sharp pain in his back. He flinched with a soft groan and rubed his back. Wondering what could've caused the pain, Eddie noticed his dark red skin tone in the dim light that the cars' mouth of metal radio emits. The roadie realized his nightmares had, once again, caused himself to revert to his demon form. The pain in his back was from the subconscious movements of his wings, folded under his skin. Eddie took a deep breath and focused for a moment. His skin turned back to its usual color and the pain in his back subsided. Eddie exhaled and started driving. 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After a bit of driving, Eddie noticed an Ironheade sneak-attack campfire still alight off to the side of the road. He stopped the car and jumped out, approaching the group sitting around the campfire. 

"Hey what are all of you still doing up?" Eddie cockily questioned the party. The headbangers turned toward the roadie. 

"The party never stops man!" One headbanger exclaimed. "Justice never sleeps," another said. 

"Sounds like a quote from a comic book." Eddie mused. 

The headbangers looked at one another for a brief moment. "What's a comic book?" They asked. 

"Never-mind." Eddie waved his hand dismissively. 

"What are you still doing up, Riggs?" The thunderhog rider questioned, adjusting his seating. 

"I just got up and decided to do some patrolling." Eddie informed them. 

"Good idea, Mr. Riggs." The bouncer chimed in with a smile. 

"Wanna chill out with us for a bit, Eddie?" The razor girl suggested, gesturing toward the campfire with her beer. 

Eddie shrugged. "Sure, why not?" The razor girl handed him the beer. He sat in their circle around the campfire, as the group preformed a soft cheer. 

An hour or two passed as they sat around the fire, telling stories, jokes, and really anything to pass the time. The group laughed it up at another one of the thunderhog, Earls', jokes. The first headbanger, Ike, suddenly stopped laughing and looked around. 

"Guys, I think some enemies are coming." He whispered, gesturing them to quite down. 

The party quickly hushed and listened. They heard a uniform matching sound that could only be matched to those of an approaching Tainted Coil unit. The second headbanger, Lenny, quickly put out the fire. Everyone got into attack position with Eddie at the front. As soon as the Tainted Coil got close enough, Eddie gave the signal to attack. The group charged forward, yelling out a battle cry. The Tainted Coil group was made up of the basic units of demons; a battle nun, punishing party, and soul kissers. Eddie ran up to take care of the battle nun, knowing the rest of the units had a bit of a hard time dealing with her. He attacked it from behind, swinging the Separator and slashing the back of its long legs. 

The battle nun let out a pained cry and turned toward Eddie. He got ready for the battle nun to fight back. Instead, after a brief moment, the battle nun just pushed him aside. "Idiot child!" It commented before going back to fighting the rest. Eddie stood, confused for a moment, before being attacked by a soul kisser. He decided to let the guys take care of the battle nun and fought the soul kissers instead. 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sooner or later, all the Tainted Coil members got killed off and the sun began to peak above the horizon. "Good job guys! I'll be headin' back now. Make sure to get some rest, eventually!" Eddie announced as he put his axe on his back. 

The ambush members all said their goodbyes as Eddie hoped into his car and drove off. As he drove, he couldn't help but think about that battle nun. Why did it just push him aside like that? His thoughts were immediately broken as he saw some commotion going on at the back entrance of Bladehenge. When he got close enough, Eddie stopped the car and jumped out. Ophelia and Lita seemed to be yelling at each other. Other panicked Ironheade members surround them, conversing frantically. Eddie ran up to them. 

"Hey- Hey! What's going on here?" His voice grabbed everyone's attention. 

"Eddie, there you are!" Ophelia exclaimed, throwing her arms up in the air. 

"Edward, where have you been?" Lita demanded, fist on hip. 

"I was out helping with an ambush. Why? What happened?" Eddie looked between the two for an answer. 

"We're about to be attacked. We tried radioing you, but you didn't answer. Mangus already has the stage set and ready to go." Lita informed him. 

"Who's attacking us?" Eddie pressed. 

"We don't know." Ophelia admitted, crossing her arms. 

"We were called from the Zaulia, saying that an army was coming our way. The units up at Battered Bluff just now confirmed this. They'll be here any minute, Edward. There's no more time for questions." Lita filled in. 

"Right. I'll get caught up with Mangus and start preparing the army." Eddie noded.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The roadie quickly ran to the front of Bladehenge, where the stage was already set. He pulled out his radio. "Mangus, are you at the board?" he asked. 

"Yeah man. Where have you been?" Mangus questioned in return. 

"Never mind that. Do you know what we're up against?" Eddie inquired as he looked around. 

"Not a clue." Mangus chuckled. 

"Alright. Well lets start off with the basics. We need some headbangers, razor girls, and a thunderhog out here." Eddie demanded. 

"You got it boss." Mangus responded and ended communication. 

Eddie jumped up on the stage and looked out toward Battered Bluff. "It'd help a lot if I knew who we were fighting." he muttered to himself. 

Soon after, Ophelia jumped up on the stage and joined Eddie at his side. "How do we not know who's attacking us at this point?" Eddie pried further as he continued to scan the distant hill. 

"We haven't gotten word back from anyone after the initial warning. There's some sort of interference with the radios." Ophelia shrugged, looking in the same direction. 

Eddie pulled out his walkie-talkie and adjusted the dial to connect to the units over at Battered Bluff. "Hey. Hey! Can anyone hear me?" he yelled into the walkie-talkie. His only response was the sound of static. "That's not good." Eddie murmured and put the radio away again. 

One by one, the Ironheade units Eddie ordered filed past them and onto the battle field. Predictably, the fan leeches soon arrived and started french kissing the fan geysers. Eddie sighed and rubbed his face; how much he hated having to beat those things away every time. 

His thoughts were suddenly scrambled once again when his legs nearly gave out under himself, startling Ophelia as he fell forward to the ground. In fact, nothing felt right with him. His head began to hurt immensely. His breath got caught in his throat as his heart started skipping beats. 

"Eddie! What's wrong?" Ophelia quickly kneeled down beside him. Eddie found himself unable to answer her. At this point, the Ironheade units on the battle field turn back towards the stage and looked up worriedly at him. Lita finally appeared and jumped up on the stage alongside Ophelia and him. 

"Edward, what's the matter?" Lita kneeled on the other side of the roadie. Eddie tried so hard to talk, but nothing except pained grunts and gasps came out. Killmaster ended up abandoning his thunderhog and jumped back up on the stage with the three. 

"We don't got time for this, lets get him somewhere safe and deal with it after." He kneeled down and helped Eddie to his feet. 

Lita and Ophelia stood as well. "You're right, Killmaster." Lita confirmed. She pulled her own walkie-talkie off her belt and radioed Mangus. "Mangus, come here and help Eddie up to your booth. He'll be staying with you this battle." She instructed the engineer. 

"Copy that." He responded. Mangus quickly made his way to the main stage and helped Killmaster walk Eddie up to the booth. 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Back stage, up a latter and down a short catwalk, laid a room. Just behind Ormagoden's eyes was the booth. Off to the side of the booth was a small kitchen and bathroom so Mangus could stay up there for hours. Killmaster and Mangus helped Eddie sit down on a small bench off to the side of the control panel. 

"I'm headin' back down. Keep an eye on him." Killmaster instructed Mangus. 

"Uh-huh." Mangus noded with a two-fingered salute. Killmaster turned walked out of room, closing the door behind him. Mangus looked concernedly at Eddie. Laying back against the wall with his eyes closed, he had calmed down to a hiss and a grunt every now and then, but still seemed completely concentrated on the pain. 

The static of the radio caught Mangus' attention. He sat down at the control panel and got ready to interpret Lita's instructions as the battle began. He looked out on the battlefield and saw demons approaching. "Looks like the Tainted Coil." Mangus commented, glancing back to the roadie. Eddie seemed to be part way through consciousness and unconsciousness from the pain.

Mangus felt extremely guilty not being able to help his friend, and boss. He turned back to his panel as Lita radioed in, ordering for the stage to be upgraded. Mangus pressed a different intercom button and called down to the small group of volunteer engineers to upgrade the stage. Mangus then leaned back in his chair and waited for the next orders to come in. "... I wonder who's leading this attack?" Mangus thought aloud. As if on cue, a solo rang throughout the battlefield from an unknown source. 

Upon hearing the solo, the excruciating pain all through Eddie's body intensified. The roadie jolted forward from the abrupt influx of pain. His screams got caught in his throat as he fell forward to the floor. Mangus, too busy watching the battle, didn't even notice. Eddie held himself as his body painfully changed. 

His skin finally reddens and eyes yellow, but that was not the only thing. His head felt almost as if it were splitting its self in two as two short, straight, horns pierced out of the top of his head. His nails became sharp like claws. The lower half of his body became agonizingly numb as his bone structure reconstructed its self. His feet became rough hooves, and his legs hairy with black fur. As the changes finished up, the pain subsided and was replaced with pleasurable relief. Eddie gasped as he finally caught his breath. He stood up slowly. He felt a lot better now that the pain was gone. Actually, he felt more than fine, he felt great. Like he could take on a whole army himself. In fact... 

Eddie firmly grabbed Mangus' shoulder, catching the engineer off guard. Quickly turning and looking up at Eddie, Mangus' eyes dilated in horror and his jaw droped. "Mangus, I'm going out there. Talk to you in a bit." Eddie informed him with a wide sharp-toothed smile. As the roadie turned to leave, Mangus jumped out of his seat to stop him. 

"B-Boss, I don't think that's a good idea!" He warns him, putting himself between Eddie and the door. 

The larger man raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" Mangus was about to explain when the radio turned on and Lita urged for more troops. "I don't got time for this, they need me out there." Eddie pushed the smaller man aside and exited the booth. Mangus hesitated for a moment on weather or not to go after him, but decided to just go back to the panel and do as ordered. 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Eddie quickly made his way to center stage and scanned the battlefield. They were losing, and pretty hard. Eddie jumped off the stage and pulled out his axe. The first thing he saw was Ophelia being flanked from all sides. He lunged into action. At record speed he made his way to Ophelia and immediately killed off four demons with just a few swings of the Separator. Before Ophelia could even notice Eddie's presence on the battlefield he killed off the rest of the demons surrounding her. 

Ophelia braced herself at the sight of a fast demon before recognizing it was him. "...Eddie?" Ophelia slowly lowered her defenses. Eddie turned and smiled at her, warranting a surprised jump from her at the sight of his new shark-like teeth. "What the hell happened to you?" Ophelia wearily looked him over. 

"What do you mean?" Eddie retorted, completely oblivious to his current appearance. The half-breed then got hit from behind by a headbanger. "Ow!" Eddie turned to the headbanger. It was Ike, the headbanger from the sneak-attack that morning. "Watch where you're hitting Ike. Do we have to go through training again?" Eddie teased with the same cocky smile. Ike froze for a moment before turning and running away screaming. "... Okay. What was his problem?" Eddie slowly turned back to Ophelia

"Are- Are you serious? Eddie! You look like a demon! You look like Doviculus!" Ophelia exclaimed, catching the attention of a few near by Ironheade members. 

"I... What?" Eddie chuckled halfheartedly. Ophelia just gestured frantically at him. Eddie looked down at himself. He froze as he realized he looked just as he did in his dream. 

Ophelia shook her head. "Never mind, we don't have time for that now. Just fight!" She ran past Eddie and charged at some demons. Eddie quickly put his shock aside and went to help. 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Soon the demons stopped coming. "Did we win?" A bouncer asked anyone in earshot. Hundreds of demon corpses littered the battlefield and no new opponents seemed to be coming.

"I think they're done." Ophelia remarked as she put her swords away. 

"Wonder what that was about..." Lita mumbled to herself. 

Eddie radioed up to Mangus in his booth. "Mangus, try to contact the other Ironheade outposts again." He commanded. Eddie put his walkie-talkie away in his belt, and looked at himself. Still in demon form, he wondered if the battle was really over yet. Usually after each battle, he'd just automatically turn back. Although, this time there was such a significant change with himself. Could he even turn back? 

His radio came back on with Mangus: "The connections are back up, boss. 'Said the demons temporarily knocked them out." He reported. 

Eddie picked the walkie-talkie back up. "Alright, thanks Mangus. If there aren't any more attacks coming, you can take the stage down." He directed. 

"Hold on a minute," Lita approached Eddie, "Tell Mangus to pack the stage up and get the bus ready." She ordered. 

Eddie raised an eyebrow. "Why?" He turns his full attention to Lita. 

"The Tainted Coil don't usually gather themselves up in such a large scale attack like that. They either have a new leader, or Doviculus is back. Either way, we need to find out." She states confidently. 

Ophelia butted in. "How are we going to do that? I don't think it'd be as easy as going to the Sea of Black Tears again, and we still don't know how to get to the demon lands." She reminded Lita. 

"The demon lands?" Eddie inquired. 

"The demons all live on a separate island than ours. There's no road connecting the islands, so we'd have to have a boat and know how to get there." Ophelia motioned vaguely off into the distance 

"Alright, next objective is finding out how to get over there-" Eddie was suddenly hit with a culmination of fatigue and light-headedness. The last thing he saw were Lita and Ophelia's looks of stern seriousness, quickly turning to concern, before Eddie collapsed and blacked out.


	2. Finding A Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie's unusual dreams continue. When he awakes he's told his new form takes up a lot of energy and that he needs to relax. Eddie doesn't take it well, but sits on the sidelines while the rest of Ironheade try to come up with a plan. They don't and Eddie ends up having to find a way to get to the Demon Lands himself.

_Tensed up over the steering wheel of the Druid Plow, he drove swiftly through the rubble and flames as the old Pleasure Dome collapsed around them. Just a few feet ahead of them lied the wide open aqueduct entrance. Eddie floored the gas pedal as they made it through just in time. Ophelia turned to him._

_"We made it. We're safe." she announced as he kept his eyes firmly on the road before them._

_Eddie spotted an outline of someone in the middle of the road far before them. Leaning forward to get a closer look, as the car continued to rapidly speed forward. By then Ophelia saw it too and did the same. It was Lita, stance planted firmly to her spot in the road with her halberd drawn. Eddie stomped on the breaks just in time for the Deuce to stop a few feet in front of her. Eddie and Ophelia both jumped out._

_"He can't protect you anymore. No one can." Lita threatened Ophelia._

_"Lita..." Eddie cautioned her._

_"She sold us out... Told them we were coming." Lita told him, pointing toward Ophelia with her weapon._

_"Lita, why would I do that?" Ophelia inquired. Lita snapped her attention back to her._

_"Because of the black water, still thick in your veins! You crave it. You'd do anything to get it. Trade anything!" Lita fumed, slowly approaching Ophelia as she backed away._

_"Well, don't worry. I'll cut wholes in your coffin and bury you so deep, the Sea's dark fingers will be sure to find you!" Lita bellowed._

_"Lita, don't make me do this." Ophelia warned, pulling out her swords._

_"Ha!" Lita taunted. Approaching Ophelia, she got ready to guard herself. Lita hit both of Ophelia's swords out of her hands, right off the bat. Eddie shook his head and quickly made his way over, behind Lita, as she kicked Ophelia to the ground. Lita lifted her halberd above her, ready to strike. "Die!" she yelled._

_Eddie grabbed the halberd as she tried to swing it back down. Lita turned around. The look of disbelief in her eyes, bringing all the feelings of the memory back to the surface. Eddie seamlessly threw the halberd away, knocking Lita off balance. He caught her by the shoulders as she began to fall, and she gripped onto his forearms._

_"Will you not let me avenge my brother?" Lita wailed, tears creeping down her cheeks._

_"Let you? I'll help you avenge your bother, but first I need to talk to Ophelia. Alone." he pleaded softly._

_"Don't Edward. She'll manipulate you, like she did with Lars." Lita begged in return, grabbing Eddie's hands._

_Eddie sighed inwardly, now having control over this memory, dream, vision, or whatever it was. "Wait here." he instructed her and walked over to Ophelia. Ophelia stood up._

_"Man, what are we gonna do with her? She's gone nuts!" she put her fists on her hips._

_"Listen, Ophelia. I love you and I trust you." he started. Ophelia seemed to soften up a bit. Eddie gently held her by the shoulders. "But, you need to tell me what's going on." he pleaded. Ophelia looked down and off to the side in guilt._

_"I... I can't tell you." She broke away from Eddie's grip and turns away from him. Eddie slowly circled around her to face her._

_"Ophelia, I know you're just trying to protect me. I know you're trying your best and that you're just doing what you think is best, but the time for hiding things are over. All of humanity is depending on us. If there's something important you need to tell me, you need to tell me now." Eddie implored her. Ophelia's gaze remained down at the ground, away from Eddie. He lightly lifted her head. "Ophelia... Who is Succoria?" he asked softly. Ophelia looked away for a brief moment before hugging Eddie tightly. Eddie gently wrapped his arms around her in a hug._

_Ophelia whispered in his ear. "Succoria is your-"_

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Eddie awakened with a start, looking around rapidly to identify his location. He was back in his and Ophelia's hut. The roadie sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"What happened?" he muttered to himself. 

He stood and made his way outside the hut to find all of Bladehenge on high alert. The place was swarmed with Ironheade members running around and practicing fighting. A headbanger wearing goggles, sitting across the from the hut, hopped up out of his seat when he saw Eddie. 

"Mr. Riggs, sir! Are you feeling alright?" He ran over with genuine concern spread across his features. 

"Jack? What are you doing here? You're part of the patrol until." Eddie stated. 

"I know, but every unit was called back to Bladehenge for the time being. I got put on watch duty over you, Mr. Riggs. To make sure you stay put and get some rest." Jack crossed his arms sternly. 

"What? Just- Where's Lita and Ophelia?" Eddie glanced around to try and spot them through the crowds of people. 

"That's not important right now, sir. All you need to worry about is resting." Jack tried to put him at ease. 

"Don't need to worry about- Jack! Look around, this place is in utter chaos and the Tainted Coil is back. There is everything to worry about, and more important things than sleep!" Eddie pushed past Jack to go find the others. Jack grabbed his arm. 

"I'm sorry, Mr. Riggs, I can't let you do that. Besides, they'll just tell you the same thing I did." The smaller man smiled. Eddie sighed. 

"Fine, go tell them I'm awake, I'll wait in my hut. Come back and tell me what they say." Eddie instructed him. 

"Will do sir!" Jack did a little solute and ran off. 

Eddie waited for Jack to disappear into the crowd. The roadie considered just going to find them himself now that no one was stopping him, but decided against it. A few minutes pass and Eddie walks back into the hut. 

 

After a bit of waiting, Ophelia herself walked into the tent. The look of worry she wore for a moment as she walked in, melted when she saw Eddie. He turned and stood immediately. 

"What's going on? What's the plan?" he gets to the point. 

"The plan, is to let you rest-" Ophelia is cut off as Eddie let out an aggravated sigh, accompanied with an eye-roll. 

"C'mon are you serious?" Ophelia puts a hand over his mouth, much to his displeasure. 

"Your new demon form takes up a lot of your energy, Eddie. Killmaster recommended you get more rest, or else you're going to just end up keeling over the next time the next show." She took her hand off his face. 

"You know I can't just sit on the side lines and do nothing." Eddie sighed. 

"That's why Jack's hear to talk your ear off while you lay down and relax. To keep you feeling busy." Ophelia gave a smug look as she turned and walked out of the tent. Eddie rubbed his face and sat back down on the bed. 

Jack walked back in soon after Ophelia left. "Mr. Riggs, can I just say what an honor it is to be your overseer for the day? Don't worry Mr. Riggs, you'll be back out there in no time flat, I'm sure!" he spoke with enthusiasm. Eddie shook his head and chuckled to himself about how much of a suck-up Jack was. 

"Alright lift-op, so what do you want to talk about?" He crossed his arms and sat back against the wall. 

"Oh! Uh... We can talk about my new designs for the new and improved Death Rack!" Jack suggested proudly. 

"Alright, lets hear it." 

 

Jack rambled on for a few hours about his ideas and details he put into his designs. Eddie nearly fell asleep a few times, but it worked. He was kept busy and distracted for three hours. Lita walked in during Jacks discussion about the importance of keeping chrome nice and shiny. 

"I'm sorry, I hope I'm not interrupting anything important." she apologized to Jack with a friendly smile. 

"Not at all, Miss Halford! We were just talking about chrome." he assured her. She nodded and turned her attention to Eddie. 

"Feeling rested up?" she asked. Eddie hopped up on his feet. 

"Heck yeah, lets go." The roadie grinned widely catching his fist with his hand. 

Lita lead Eddie out of the hut after saying his quick goodbye's to Jack. They started making their way through the crowd of Ironeheade members. The camp was load with chatter and battle cries as members practiced fighting. Lita and Eddie, having to dodge a headbanger or two as they ran hurriedly by. 

"So have you guys come up with a plan yet?" Eddie asked as they walk. 

"Not really." she stated uneasily. 

"I could probably easily make a boat." Eddie mused as he rubbed his chin. 

"Figured." she chuckled softly at the roadie's willingness. 

"But then there's still the question of where exactly the demon lands are and how to navigate our way there." he continued. 

"Exactly. Which, none of us know how to do, but I figured, you're very social and often get around easy. You must've met someone outside of Ironheade who could provide us with some useful information." She stopped and turned to Eddie with hand on hip and an amused, confident, smile. 

"I'll see what I can find." Eddie grinned. 

"Tell us if you find anything useful." Lita then turned on her heel and disappeared further the crowd. 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Eddie's first visit was to the Hunter. He actually didn't know that many people outside of IronHeade. Really, just the Hunter and Fletus. The roadie found him in his usual spot out in the back area of Bladehenge. Sitting back with a carrot in hand. When the camo-dressed man saw Eddie approaching, he let out an over exaggerated sigh and stood up. 

"Great, look what the cat dragged in." he crossed his arms and awaited Eddie to state his business.

"Look man, I didn't come back here to beat another one of your records, or whatever. I just came to ask if you would know anything about sailing a boat?" Eddie questioned.

"Well, of course I do! What kind of hunter would I be if I didn't know how to sail a boat?" the Hunter scoffed, insulted that he would have the nerve to ask such a question.

"Alright, so do you think you can transport a whole army to the demon lands if given a big enough boat?" The roadie crossed his arms.

"I could, but not to the demon lands." he answered, taking a bite out of the carrot.

"Why not?" Eddie raised an eyebrow, a bit irritated.

"One: why would I want to? And two: those waters are too dangerous and that land too hostile. I'm not risking my life for some wanna-be hunter and his friends to go get themselves killed." he crossed his arms stubbornly. 

Eddie sighed in defeat, deciding to just move on and ask Fletus. Much too exhausted to deal with the Hunter's bullshit today. Besides, he wouldn't want to spend probable days on end on a boat with that guy anyway. He'd be a last resort, at best. 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Next, he finds Fletus hanging out on the ramp under Mt. Rockmore. Fletus, leaning back against the Squealer, stared off into the distance; most likely absorbed in thought. 

"Fletus!" Eddie called out to him to grab his attention. Fletus perked up and turned his attention towards Eddie.

"Oh great, it's you. Whaddya want now?" the demon sighed. 

"For once, I'm not here to insult and race you. I wanna ask a favor." Eddie walked over and rested a hand on the speed demon's car.

"Ask a favor? Like ye've earned one after everything?" Fletus growled in return. 

"Look, I'm sorry man. I thought we were cool. It was just race trash talk." Eddie put his hands up in surrender. Fletus grunted.

"Fine, whaddya want?" he gave in.

"Do you know how to get to the demon lands, and if so, can you take us there?" Eddie asked quickly. 

"The demon lands? Of course I know how to get there, it's where all the demons live. Though, my crew personally lives on one of the smaller islands next to the main one. As fer gettin' ye there, I don't even get me self there. I take the rebel's boat." Fletus explained.

"The rebel's boat?" Eddie questioned in turn.

"It's a boat of humans, more or less. They used to serve for the coil on slave ships. One day they rose up, killed all their demon masters, and stole a boat. Now they sail the seas around the islands in secret. They'll take anyone on board in exchange for anything of value." The demon elaborated, leaning on his car.

"How can I get a hold of them?" Eddie straightened up. 

"They stop on the shore by the broken bridge. They come ashore fer an hour or two to stock up on food, then they head out again. They usually come around noon, so ye better be there and ready to talk. They don't mess around. Personally, I'd recommend ye offer some kegs of beer from you human's beer tree. They probably haven't had any beer in a while, if at all." Fletus pointed in the general direction of where the beer tree would be. 

"Alright, thanks Fletus... One more thing, do you think you can give us an escort down there?" Eddie pried.

"Fine, but ye own me one!" Fletus declared, pointing firmly at Eddie.


	3. The Motley Crew

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow a chapter that doesn't start with a dream sequence!

The roadie watched the distant waters through the landmark viewer on the grassy shore. The demon auto-enthusiast by his side watching with his bare eyes. Not far behind the two, the impatient leader of Ironheade paced back and forth. When Eddie had told her the plan to take a mysterious boat suggested by his demon friend, she obviously wasn't too keen on it. Eddie seemed pretty confident though, so she reluctantly agreed. 

Meanwhile, the rest of Ironheade waited around by the bus, up the hill from them. Nerves among the army were both shaken and hyperactive. While some were scared of the idea of going to the demon lands, most were just excited to be on tour once again. Ready to kick butt and take names. Those few months of peace was more than the warriors could handle. Especially the Fire Barons who were doing fire-y donuts in the grass as they waited. Much to the dismay of Mangus, who wanted to get all the equipment and vehicles loaded on the bus so they'd be ready when the boat came. 

 

Ophelia sat in the grass behind the bus twirling an empty bottle in her hand in deep thought. Mangus peaked out around the corner of the bus. "Uh, Ophelia? Something wrong?" he walked up closer.

Ophelia looked up from her bottle at the engineer. "Hm? Oh- Uh- No, I guess." she lowered her bottle and glanced away from the man. 

Mangus chuckled. "And what does that mean?" he crossed his arms.

The brooding woman stood and looked down the hill at Eddie. "I don't think we should go."

"Why not? Aren't you one of them that's always looking forward to these things?" 

"Yeah, but-" she sighed, "Eddie hasn't really been himself lately. In more ways than one..."

Mangus finally followed her gaze down to Eddie, who still hadn't taken his eyes off the waters. "What do ya mean? I mean- I know part of that is this whole worsened demon infection thing, but what else has been goin' on?" 

Ophelia mentally facepalmed. She almost forgot everyone still thought Eddie's demon half was due to demon venom. "He just... hasn't been sleeping well lately." That much was true. Ophelia had been used to Eddie tossing and turning a lot at night, but lately that simple tossing and turning had been taken up a couple notches to full on night terrors. For a while she would try to wake the roadie up from them, but quickly learned he couldn't be awoken. Especially odd for the usual light-sleeper that the roadie was. 

After Doviculus told Eddie the truth, he seemed to be fine, but after everything began to settle down the real weight of the truth settled roughly on his shoulders. Ophelia was afraid her love was thinking the worst. Her theory was unfortunately proven when, one night, Eddie muttered a sorry to Lars in his sleep. She tried several times to get Eddie to talk about it, but the stubborn man wouldn't budge. Now with his new more demon like features, his thoughts would only get worse. This renewed fight against the Coil was the last thing Eddie needed, even if he might think otherwise. 

 

The engineer laughed to himself again. "Well that's just Eddie isn't it?" 

Ophelia shook her head. "I just think we should stay here. I mean, you saw what happens now after battles. He just passes out. We can't have him in hostile territory, passing out all the time." 

"You got a point there, but the person you really gotta convince is Lita." Mangus pointed out.

"Right, like that's gonna happen with how she's been trying to act like Lars lately." Ophelia rolled her eyes. In trying to fill the shoes of her brother, Lita became even more stubborn. Insisting on seeing whatever plan has been made up through, even if it was incredibly stupid or dangerous. 

"It's worth a shot, don't you think?" Mangus shrugged.

"I guess." Ophelia took a deep breath and started walking down the hill towards the three by the shore.

 

Lita spotted her halfway down and stopped her pacing. Turning her attention towards the brunette. "What is it? Is there something you need to report?" 

"Lita, we need to talk about this plan. I don't think it's a good idea." Ophelia cut to the chase.

Eddie overheard Ophelia and stepped off the landmark viewer. "What do you mean?" he asked defensively. Lita couldn't have stated it better herself, so she just turned back to Ophelia for her response.

"Eddie isn't well-" Of course, Ophelia was quickly cut off by the man question.

"Ophelia, I'm fine-" Eddie was then impatiently cut off by the woman. 

"We can't have him in enemy territory the way he is. If he keeps on passing out for hours-"

"It won't happen Oph-"

"If he keeps on passing out for hours then he won't be any good to anyone and it'll do more harm than good." Ophelia finally finished her statement. Eddie surprisingly had no rebuttal. They both just looked at Lita for the final verdict. 

Lita could only open her mouth slightly before she was cut off by Fletus. 

"Too late te change yer minds now, they're comin'." he pointed to the horizon where a large ship was approaching towards them. 

The topic was immediately set aside. Lita and Eddie joined Fletus, watching the ship as it approached. Ironheade repacked everything and got on the bus to wait. Ophelia decided to drop it and hesitantly joined the rest of Ironheade on the bus. Maybe the distraction of war would be good for Eddie.

 

The enormous pirate looking boat stopped short, ten feet from the shore. Eddie and Lita had to shield their eyes from the sun as they looked up to the deck. For how Fletus had described how they lived; sailing the sea endlessly for years. The boat seemed brand new. In much better condition than expected, at least. Nothing else was really notable about the vessel. No decoration, or special sails, or flags. Very unpresuming. Most likely to keep attention away from them. Soon, someone stepped up to the front of the ship and onto the bowsprit in order to get a better look at the crowd waiting before them. It seemed to be a young woman. Her clothes drew the most attention. They were bright and consisted of several different colors, and clung closely to her body. No other details about the woman could be made from the distance. They scanned the area and once they caught sight of Fletus, their face twisted into a sour expression and they hollered over. 

"Fletus! What the fuck is this?" They didn't sound angry, more like exhausted. By the tone of their voice, and their semi-relaxed body language, it seemed like this wasn't the first time he brought strangers to them. 

"They're friends. Sorta... Anyway, they need a ride to the demon lands." Fletus put his fists on his hips with a grin.

"What else is new?" They exaggeratedly rolled their eyes and shifted their weight to their right leg. "What do they got, then?"

Fletus looked back toward Lita and motioned her forward. Lita straightened her back and walked closer to sea. "I am Lita Halford and I-"

The pirate let out a long sigh. "I asked what you got! Not for introductions. We're burning daylight here, just tell me what you're planning to give to us in trade for giving you all a ride?"

Lita sternly nodded and continued. "We brought thirty kegs of beer in exchange." she motioned back towards the bus where aforementioned kegs were strapped securely to the top. 

The pirate scanned over the group again. "Alright... And how do you expect to get that big ass car on the ship?" They motioned to the bus.

Lita looked back to Eddie for him to explain how exactly he was going to do it. Now Eddie stepped forward. "All you need to do is pull the ship closer to shore, and I'll take care of the rest." he hollered out to the ship. 

The brightly clad woman seemed to be contemplating the situation. "Alright. We'll steer her closer. Once you all are on board we'll talk more." They turned and disappeared back into the ship. A few minutes later the boat began gently drifting closer to the shore. 

Fletus turned to two Ironheade members. "Welp, my job here is done. See ya later." The demon turned heal and jumped into his car. 

"Alright, I'll see you. If I don't die of old age by the time you catch up." Eddie taunted with a grin.

The hot-rod demon growled. "Don't push it." he then quickly sped off down the road.

Lita turned to Eddie. "Well... at least it turned out better than I expected."

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Once they got the bus and the members of Ironheade all loaded up on the ship, Eddie finally got to get a better look at the captain and their crew. Least to say, they didn't seem to be holding up as well as their boat was. Intense scarring, an abundant of bandages, and a missing appendage or two was a common theme amongst the strangers. Lita had already started getting acquainted with the captain while Eddie was helping people get settled. The was fairly taller than Lita. Taller than the lot of them, to the point she even had to look down to speak to Mangus. The woman wore her long, brunette hair in a ponytail. Her skin seemed to be an odd sunburnt red, with the exceptions of the several patches of light colored scar tissue that repeated pattern over her body. Well, one could imagine it would. Very little skin showed, only her left arm and face could be seen. Her right arm was completely masked with bandages, and the rest of her was covered in clothes. She wore a striped red and white blouse. Along with a brown, tightly fitted, vest and a sash fashioned around her waist. Her boots climbed halfway up her legs with her pants nicely tucked in. A black eye-patch clung to her right eye. Her left was an icy blue. Said eye shifting its focus from Lita to Eddie as he approached them. 

"And you must be Edward, the -roadie- of Ironheade?" The captain inquired with a raised brow and extended hand.

Eddie gave a polite smile and shook her hand. "Yeah, I'll explain later." he chuckled. 

"Well, welcome aboard the Motley. We are the Motley Crew, and we'll sure as hell help you all to the demon islands if it means we don't got to keep sailing to escape the Coil. I am Morgana, your captain for the weeks ahead." she grinned proudly.

**Author's Note:**

> I started this series July 26, 2017 on DeviantArt and haven't gotten past chapter 3 yet, but it isn't discontinued!


End file.
